CBS RADIO WORKSHOP
CBS Radio Workshop was a revival of the Columbia Workshop of the late thirties. All 86 episodes survive today. The series aired from 27 Jan 1956 until 22 Sep 1957, of course on CBS. The original idea for the show came from Irving Reis back in the thirties. What he wanted was an experimental workshop, a sustaining program where actors, writers and technicians could produce scripts the sponsors might be afraid to try. The time was right in the late fifties to try this concept again, however, under different circumstances. By this time television was taking the big money so why not try this concept again since most of the big sponsors were already transitioning over.
William Froug, a CBS vice president was the force behind this revival. He grew up with the old Columbia Workshop and pitched the idea to Howard Barnes. Howard agreed with the idea and William Froug chose Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" as the first program. Aldous Huxley narrated and William Conrad announced this radio adaptation of "Brave New World". The series brought together the cutting edges of writing, music, and sound. Overall it was a big hit with radio personnel and listeners. So much so that the east coast wanted in too. Thus the series alternated between the west and east coast production centers. Why not spare a little time and give a listen to some outstanding radio drama. Take the challenge and compare the CBS Radio Workshop with the original, Columbia Workshop. You decide for yourself which series is better.
This is the CBS Radio Workshop, dedicated to man's imagination, the theater of the mind.
From the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Notes" Section below for more information on the OTRR.
Notes
OLD TIME RADIO RESEARCHERS GROUP
This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers (OTRR) Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website (www.otrr.org), Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook Group, and Old Time Radio Researchers Group.
It contains the most complete and accurate version of this series in the best sound possible at the time of creation. An updated version will be issued if more episodes or better sounding ones become available.
This is the Single Episodes Page. The Certified Set includes extras not found here. It is located at OTRR Certified Set. This Single Episodes page is provided in case you want to sample the shows. Note that in many cases, file names have been modified from the original OTRR names to conform to archive.org naming requirements.
If you are interested in preserving Old Time Radio (OTR), you may wish to join the Old Time Radio Researchers Group at Facebook and Groups.io.
Relax, listen, and enjoy!
OTRR Definitions:
OTRR Maintained Set -- This set contains all known episodes in the best available audio condition with the most accurate dates and titles known to be in general circulation and based on current research at the time of release. Replaces OTRR Certified Accurate and OTRR Certified Complete.
OTRR Non-Maintained Set -- A collection of shows that has not gone through the OTRR Maintenance process.
Pre-2019 OTRR Definitions:
OTRR Certified Accurate -- A series that was "Certified Accurate" indicated that all the episodes were properly identified and labeled based on current information but that the series did not contain all known extant episodes.
OTRR Certified Complete -- A series that was "Certified Complete" achieved the highest level of certification available under the OTRR Certified Standards. This certification level implied that all the files in the series were "Certified Accurate" and also indicated that the series was as complete as possible and included all circulating episodes.
OTRR Non-Certified -- A collection of shows that has not gone through the OTRR Certification process.
Also, beginning in 2019, the version numbers of our OTRR releases changed format -- instead of v1.0 or v2.1, we are now using a version number that reflects the year and month the set was released. The format used is a two-digit year followed by a two-digit month. For example, "v1906" indicates a set that was released in June 2019, or "v1910" indicates a set released in October 2019.
NOTE: There are no passwords for any of our ZIP files. If you are prompted for a password, before downloading the file again, try unzipping the file into a shorter full folder path name -- for example, unzip to "C:\" instead of "C:\Documents and Settings\your_Windows_ID\some_other_folder\". Sorry, some of our releases contain long folder and file names, which sometimes manifests itself on the Windows platform as prompting for a password for the ZIP file. Or try renaming the ZIP file itself to a shorter name before unzipping.
Reviews
Reviewer:
jtyroler
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
February 19, 2017
Subject: Great Radio Program
Subject: Great Radio Program
This was a wonderful program that covered so many things and genres - comedy, science fiction, drama, reality, etc. with a very diverse group of voice actors and non-actors. In this series, you would have heard William Conrad, Herbert Marshall, Vincent Price, then Senator John F. Kennedy, and many others, including Aldous Huxley discussing Brave New World.
This might have been one of radio's last attempts at relevance against television and this was an excellent attempt to get people away from their large 12" screens for an hour.
This might have been one of radio's last attempts at relevance against television and this was an excellent attempt to get people away from their large 12" screens for an hour.
Reviewer:
SaraBellePalsy
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
January 15, 2017
Subject: The Duke
Subject: The Duke
I would love to find out HOW this got on the air in 1956, and what the ramifications were to CBS (if any) Also, if there was a lot of reaction in the media - Anyone?
Reviewer:
PDGazette2
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February 25, 2016
Subject: Announcers for this great series:
Subject: Announcers for this great series:
I found these two men most common to this show:
Hugh Douglas
Date of Birth: 8/3/1915
Birthplace: Chicago, IL
Date of Death: 9/1/1993
Profession: announcer
http://www.otrrpedia.net/getpersonF.php?PN=1839
William Conrad
Date of Birth: 9/27/1920
Birthplace: Louisville, KY
Date of Death: 2/11/1994
Profession: actor and announcer
http://www.otrrpedia.net/getpersonF.php?PN=1428
Hugh Douglas
Date of Birth: 8/3/1915
Birthplace: Chicago, IL
Date of Death: 9/1/1993
Profession: announcer
http://www.otrrpedia.net/getpersonF.php?PN=1839
William Conrad
Date of Birth: 9/27/1920
Birthplace: Louisville, KY
Date of Death: 2/11/1994
Profession: actor and announcer
http://www.otrrpedia.net/getpersonF.php?PN=1428
Reviewer:
superguinea
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
May 15, 2015
Subject: radio gold
Subject: radio gold
these are great. i just wish i can find out the owner of the voice of the person that opens each show
